Abstract
Staphylococcus coagulans is among the three most frequent pathogens of canine pyoderma. Yet, studies on this species are scarce. Twenty-seven S. coagulans and one S. schleiferi, corresponding to all pyoderma-related isolations from these two species at two veterinary laboratories in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1999 and 2018 (Lab 1) or 2018 (Lab 2), were analyzed. Isolates were identified by the analysis of the nuc gene and urease production. Antibiotic susceptibility towards 27 antibiotics was evaluated by disk diffusion. Fourteen antibiotic resistance genes were screened by PCR. Isolates were typed by SmaI-PFGE. Two S. coagulans isolates (2/27, 7.4%) were methicillin-resistant (MRSC, mecA+) and four (4/27, 14.8%) displayed a multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype. We observed resistance to penicillin (17/27, 63.0%), fluoroquinolones (11/27, 40.7%), erythromycin and clindamycin (3/27, 11.1%), fusidic acid (3/27, 11.1%) and tetracycline (1/27, 3.7%). The blaZ and erm(B) genes were carried by 16 and 1 isolates resistant to penicillin and erythromycin/clindamycin, respectively. Only three S. coagulans carried plasmids. The single S. schleiferi isolate presented an MDR phenotype. SmaI-PFGE revealed a limited genetic diversity of S. coagulans, with a predominant lineage present from 2001 to 2018. This study describes the first MRSC causing canine infection in Portugal and reveals a high burden of antimicrobial resistance, with the emergence of MDR phenotypes within the main lineages.
Highlights
Pyoderma is a common skin infection in dogs and the main cause for antimicrobial use in small animal veterinary medicine [1]
This study revealed that a significant proportion of all the non-S. pseudintermedius or non-S. aureus isolates collected from companion animals skin infections during the time period studied was identified as S. coagulans (27/89, 30.3%), while a single isolate (1/89, 1.1%) corresponded to S. schleiferi
We describe the emergence, since 2016, of resistance to fusidic acid, which is widely used in the topical treatment of human and canine skin infection caused by either S. coagulans or S. schleiferi
Summary
Pyoderma is a common skin infection in dogs and the main cause for antimicrobial use in small animal veterinary medicine [1]. Coagulase-positive staphylococci are the main pathogenic agents of canine pyoderma; Staphylococcus pseudintermedius accounts for up to 90% of pyoderma-related staphylococcal infections, followed by Staphylococcus coagulans Coagulase-negative staphylococci, like Staphylococcus epidermidis, are rare agents of canine pyoderma, frequently in association with S. pseudintermedius [1]. The species S. schleiferi was first described in 1988 by Freney and colleagues in human clinical isolates [4], and later reported as a member of the human axilla microflora [5,6]. In 2020, a phylogenomic analysis of the Staphylococcus genus led to the re-classification of S. schleiferi subsp. Coagulans as the new species S. coagulans and of S. schleiferi subsp. In 2020, a phylogenomic analysis of the Staphylococcus genus led to the re-classification of S. schleiferi subsp. coagulans as the new species S. coagulans and of S. schleiferi subsp. schleiferi as S. schleiferi [8]
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